Weekly jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 7 fell by 31,000 to 292,000, the Labor Department reported in data released in Washington. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting claims to rise slightly to 330,000, up from the prior week's 323,000. Economists are also expecting a 0.1% month-over-month export increase and a 0.5% import increase.

In company news, Pandora ( P) was surging 6.6% to $22.80 a day after the online music streaming service named Brian McAndrews its CEO and president, effective immediately.

Yahoo! ( YHOO) was gaining 1.5% to 422.64 after CEO Marissa Mayer said Wednesday that the Internet portal has about 800 million worldwide users, a 20% increase since she took control of the company 15 months ago.

Dell ( DELL) will finally vote on Thursday for the $24.8 billion deal that would allow founder Michael Dell to take the company private. Investors who have followed the company's timeline know that Dell and billionaire investor Carl Icahn have wrestled for months in an attempt to take the company off the public markets and offer shareholders a sweet deal. Analysts suggest that Michael Dell will win the vote as Icahn finally stepped away from the bargaining table.